Petals Fall....
by Kawaii Dragoness
Summary: An angsty S&S, Chapter 4 now up. Syaoran had to leave Sakura...how's everyone handling? All in POVs, now complete...to a point...Read and review to see what I mean! Contest included!!!!
1. Syaoran Li

Petals Fall

_Petals Fall...._  
A S&S  
Part 1: Syaoran Li

*

The sakura petals are proably falling now in Japan. I'm stuck back in Hong Kong, away from it. The cards are all captured, life is mostly good--except that Mother ordered me to come home. Away from Japan. Away from Sakura. 

Life sucks don't you know? I'm away from Sakura. Sakura, who I loved with all my life and being. Sakura, who I protected with my life and power. Sakura, like the flowers that bloom in spring and whose petals are falling this very moment.

At the same time, my love for Sakura bloomed. It blossomed and flourished, like the flower my love object was named for. 

That name doesn't do her justice, what would you know. No flower could be close to her extraordinary beauty and grace that I love in her..._my_ Kinomoto Sakura. No one else can love her as I do...no one.

Somehow, that love was returned. Sakura found room in her heart to love me, Li Syaoran, completely unworthy of her love.

We were close, never leaving the other's side, wishing nothing more than each other. I only wish now of her...of the one named after the flower that blooms in spring.

A lotus...Li Meilin. She was jealous out of her mind. She didn't think that I should have fallen in love with Sakura when I was engaged to her. I just don't feel that way about her. I care about her, of course, I have to! But I could never love her. It's not the same.... I just don't love Meilin. But I love Sakura...she never understood that, and complained to the family. They sympatized with me. Meilin left me, never to be found again.

I feel sorry for the lotus, you know? I feel...I should have treated her much better. My mistake. But I still loved Sakura all the same, and her leaving only got us closer.

The petals fall in Japan as I fall deeper in love with their namesake.

Wo ai ni, my blossom, my world, my meaning of being...Kinomoto Sakura.

*

TBC

"Wo ai ni" is Mandarin for "I love you"...used in a lot of Gundam Wing fics that I've read, so why not introduce it to CCS? ^_^ Like it? Hate it? Review and tell me!


	2. Kinomoto Sakura

Petals Fall

_Petals Fall...._  
A S&S  
Part 2: Kinomoto Sakura

~

The sakura petals are falling right now. They blow away with the wind...like Syaoran did. 

Gah, I'm thinking about it again! Mou, can't I get a break? Syaoran left a few months ago to go back to Hong Kong...and I've been missing him ever since. I can't seem to stop _thinking_ about him....

When the sakura petals had first bloomed this spring, he sat me under one of them. I remember the scene vividly....

*Flashback*

"Sakura...I...." Syaoran stuttered. 

"Li-kun? What's the problem?" I asked.

"Not a problem...but I...Sakura-chan, I love you."

"Li-kun...you mean it?" I was in complete disbelief. Syaoran loved _me_? No way! It was impossible! "You really mean it?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't tell you, now would I?" he asked. Good point...Li Syaoran wasn't one to tell a lie.

"Good point...mou, I didn't expect that...well....all I can say is that I love you too." I replied. "Honest."

"It can't be...." he said, looking into my eyes. "You deserve much better than me."

"Much better?" I asked. "There _is_ no better, Li-kun! You're everything to me! There's no _way_ there is anything better than you, Li-kun!"

"Do you mean it, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, Li-kun, I mean it. I love you." His lips were a little swollen. Tomoyo once told me that when a person's lips are swollen, they want to kiss someone. I took the hint. "Li-kun, sit here," I said, patting next to me on the seat. He sat. "Close your eyes." He did so. Kami-sama, be with me, I thought and kissed him on the lips.

Syaoran froze a little, then deepened the kiss to my surprise. We sat there, kissing, reveling in each other, not caring about anything...and when we had to breathe, we went up for air and kissed again. It felt great, and that day had been in my dreams every day since.

*end flashback*

Meilin soon found out afterwards and was angered out of her mind. You should have seen her! She was screaming and raving to Li-kun about how dishonorable it was, and that he was supposed to be in love with _her_, and that I was some dishonorable scum that he should have never met...I felt extremely hurt, and so did Syaoran. He told me later on that he had complained to the clan about her and gotten the case....

Then Meilin left. We never saw her again. I don't know what happened...whether it was anger or rage or guilt or the fact that the clan had nullified their engagement...all of the above, I expect. I feel sorry for her. But after she left, Syaoran just got closer to me. We were as close as they come...never thinking of anything but the other, day and night.

Then, Syaoran got a call from his mother. Apparently, Meilin had last been spotted in China, and it was his duty to find her. So he had to leave. It was hard to say goodbye, indeed...but we had no choice. He had to leave. 

Syaoran always writes, always calls, so it's not half bad. But then again, it's nothing compared to sitting under a sakura blossom tree watching the petals fall together. Meilin still hasn't been spotted. I still haven't gotten over the fact. And as I fall deeper in my anguish for losing him, the sakura petals fall...he said I was more beautiful and graceful than any flower.

I like the flowers I'm named after, but it's always a compliment. The petals fall, as my anguish deepens.

~

owari


	3. Meilin Li

Petals Fall Part 3: Li Meilin

_Petals Fall_  
Part 3: Li Meilin

Notes: The rating changed to PG because of one swear word. Aunt Kyaa, Meilin's friend Shihua, and her mother were all people I invented for the purpose of this fic. 

~

Why? Why did Syaoran suddenly go for that girl Sakura? Why did she have to love him back? (OK, I understand that, he _is_ cute and all....) I just don't understand...how my heart suddenly was broken. I loved Syaoran and he loved another. And she wasn't even in the clan! What kind of injustices could be wrought? I had to run away from it all, even my own family...I felt so ashamed....

OK. Maybe I should explain. Last spring, when the petal blossoms were blooming in Japan (and when Syaoran and I were still living in there), Syaoran went with Sakura and told her that he was in love with her. I had no idea he did...OK, maybe I _was_ jealous every time he looked deep into her eyes and all...and she loved him back. I'll never forget the day afterwards.

~

"Ummm...Meilin...I have to tell you something," he said. My eyes were hopeful (I didn't know he had told Sakura the day before). Would it be what I had always been dreaming of...my fantasy, of him loving me?

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry, Meilin...but I love someone else...." His eyes were away from mine, turned towards the side. He was ashamed? But this was not the Syaoran I knew and loved, able to admit his mistakes.... "I'm sorry if I broke your heart, but my own belongs with another...."

It hit me, a painful realization that broke me. I should have expected it. "Kinomoto Sakura...." I breathed. I knew it. She had been after him as much as I had. And she got it first because he was there. "How could you have fallen in love with someone out of the clan? She isn't even Chinese! Do you think the clan would agree to this? We were supposed to be the heirs together, you _know_ that! As soon as we were legal in China, we were supposed to be arranged!" The tears were about the fall. I willed them otherwise, but they wouldn't stop...they fell, the pain in my eyes visible through the shining tears.

"I know, Meilin, but my heart goes against society! It's the way I _feel_! Don't you want me to be _happy_?! I'm happy with Sakura-chan!" He was nearly hysterical, shouting at me. But he was right...I wanted him to be happy, above anything. Yet, pride and tradition stopped me. I could never forgive a traitor to the clan...even if it was Xiaolang, my bethrothed.

"Li Xiaolang...." I whispered his real name in our accent, the way it _should_ be. "I can't forgive you. I'm sorry, I could never forgive a traitor to the clan."

"Well then. Be that way...the clan forgives a striving heart. Like our aunt Kyaa." I remembered that. Our aunt Kyaa had fallen in love with an American man...the clan forgave her and let him into the clan. They had even married the two in our traditional ways. However, I was amongst the people who were against that action.

"I never supported that action," I replied tartly in Chinese.

"Well, then _you're_ a traitor to the clan, Li Meiling," he replied in the same tongue. I gulped. He was right again...damn.

"Xiaolang, why must you always be right?" I asked. Our whole conversation had now been put in our native speech.

"Isn't that what you fell in love with me for?" I remembered the time when I had told Naoko to ask Xiaolang about dragons because "he knew everything".

"Yes but...now you don't love me. Stop torturing me."

"I love you, Meiling, but not in the same way I love Sakura. You are family. Of course I love you. More than the blood relatives of the family, since we are so close and bethrothed...but still, not the same way as Sakura." He sighed. "You remember when she captured the Twin Card? We can practically read each other's thoughts. We worked very hard to do those motions together...we must have been thinking of the same kata. And our timing has always been the same for that particular one ever since...well, you remember." He was right. Back in China, I had once struggled with that particular one during a practice. Xiaolang had retaught it to me, and soon enough we could perform it together in perfect timing--not to mention the same one. "Why did you perform that particular one?"

"Because it reminds me of you. I knew you would do the same. I guess I understand, but I still cannot forgive."

"You just don't give in, do you, Meiling?" He sighed. "Be that way then. I'll write to the clan patriarch. We'll see if _they_ can forgive me."

~

He did. A few weeks afterwards, I checked the mail and found their reply...they forgave, all right, just like Syaoran thought they would. I was enraged. How did Sakura win? How did it happen? They had annulled our betrothement too...and _that_ blew it. I couldn't stay with the clan after this. I sent a quick letter that I wished to disown myself from the clan and ran off to the nearest poorhouse with my little bit of savings and the jewelry I had inherited. I sold the jewelry and pooled it with my savings...just enough. I could boat to Hong Kong and stay at my old friend's house. And I did.

My friend Shihua's mother was extraordinarily kind to me. She knew of a person who would keep me safe and away from the clan near the Lunan Stone Forests, a beautiful monument they would never _dream_ of looking into. [2] I could work as a tour guide there to pay my stay. They sent me off.

Life as a tour guide is hard, but I love seeing the flowers. They grow in the harshness of these stone towers, and they are so beautiful...pink and orange and sky blue. Their petals are falling now. I bet the sakura petals are falling in Japan as well. As the petals fall, my memories of Xiaolang grow...yet, at the same time, I am finally free.

Xiaolang may be looking for me right now, maybe not. I don't know. Life goes on...as the petals fall.

~

[1]: Kata in Japan (I know them as "porma" from the Filipino martial art of escrima) are set motions, known as forms. You memorize kata in training of martial arts, and usually you have to be able to perform a certain amount of katas in order to advance belt. In certain situations (the Twin Card could be one) a kata can be used in a real life situation. If someone would give me the Chinese word, I'd be grateful. ~Kawa

[2]: The Lunan Stone Forests are really beautiful. it is a range of natural stone towers that are incredulously beautiful and have many hideaways and caverns. Since it is easy to get lost in there, and Meilin loves the comforts of civilization and tradition, I don't think the clan would have looked there for her. ~Kawa

~

TBC

~

R&R!!! Please! ^o^ Coming soon--part 4: Daijoubi Tomoyo


	4. Daijoubi Tomoyo

Petals Fall part 3

_Petals Fall..._  
Part 4: Daijoubi Tomoyo

Notes: I decided to make this a little contest...yummy yummy yum yum. So now that I've finished _Petals Fall_, you have to continue. This is obviously in Tomoyo's POV, sooo...*rubs hands together* enjoy! This part's kinda short, so bear with me. I wrote this before the 9/11/01 tragedy, but I have added an extra note at the end because of that.

***

I can see the sakura petals falling outside my bedroom window. They remind me of how happy Sakura used to be when Syaoran was around...and now, how she's practially drifted off in depression--being without him. 

*sigh* It's so horrible. Just a few months ago, she was happy as can be. I remember how I once said that her eyes could light up a darkened room if she was thinking of Syaoran the right way (hehe)...but now _she's_ the darkening of the room. Her eyes just aren't as bright anymore. They're so gloomy...I wish I could do something, being her friend and all....

I watch the old tapes of the two together that I've done over the past few years. It seems that the only trend that I can find is that she's happiest with Syaoran-kun. Oh wait...that's it! I just need to do a little sucking up, and she'll see him again, all right...and a little help from Syaoran himself wouldn't hurt. Actually, we DO need a tour guide and some spending cash, as well as lodging and his directions....

I pull out a pad of paper and a pen and start furiously writing letters to my aunt who's a flight attendant and to Syaoran....

***

Yes! Got it! Six tickets to Hong Kong. One for me, one for my mother, one for Touya, one for Yukito, one for Eriol, and most importantly one for Sakura. I put each of them into a seperate envelope. Sakura would be the last to know....

Maybe there'd be hope in this after all. On the day before vacation (1), I go to Sakura-chan's house. Touya opens the door.

"Welcome...oh, hi, it's you." he says.

"Yeah. Look, I'm giving Sakura the ticket now. Keep quiet, ok?"

"Sure, whatever, she's up in her room," he whispered, letting me in. I went up to her room and knocked on her door.

"Sakura-chan? It's Tomoyo. Can I come in?" I asked.

"Come right in Tomoyo-chan," she said, somewhat gloomy. She was thinking about Li-kun again. I could help her in _that_ right, that much I knew, as I opened the door. Sure enough, she was laid on her stomach on her bed, flipping through a photo album that featured her adventures as a Cardcaptor--and me there, supporting her--and Li-kun.

"I've got good news for you." I said.

"Do you?" she asked, somewhat suspicious.

"Yeah. My--_our_--aunt got us tickets to go to Hong Kong for the vacation." (2)

"I know that I can use a vacation, but...oh wait!" Her eyes suddenly lit up again. Yes! "Syaoran's in Hong Kong, right?" She had that award-winning smile on her face. Yes, yes! "My kami-sama! Are we going to see Syaoran-kun again?!"

"Yes, we're going with my mother and Touya and Yukito and Eriol," I said.

She jumped off the bed and stared dancing around her room. "Oh kami-sama, my prayers have come true! I'm going to see Syaoran-kun again! Oh kami-sama!" she repeated breathlessly, her eyes sparkling along with her shining teeth (which showed in that award-winning smile). I couldn't help but join her. She was happy again. _I_ was happy again. 

I dropped the envelope onto her table, just so that I wouldn't forget. I'm so happy for her...maybe this vacation will be more helpful than I thought.

As the petals fall outside, dancing just like Sakura, hope mounts upon hope.

-------------------

  1. *sweatdrop* Since I don't know the pattern of cherry blossoms, I don't know which vacation. It's just...vacation. Keep that in mind for the challenge.
  2. I _think_ that Sakura and Tomoyo are cousins, on their mothers' side, or at least I hope so. That's what I mean by them both having the same aunt.

--------------------

Now here's the challenge. Basically, you have to write the part in which Sakura, Tomoyo, Tomoyo's mother, Touya, Yukito, and Eriol go to Hong Kong and meet Syaoran again. Whether or not they find Meilin, whether or not it's E&T, is entirely up to you. The basic rules are thus:

  1. It has to have a happy ending!
  2. It has to be S&S!
  3. The title must have the word 'Petals' in it somewhere so that I can keep track of the fics for the contest.
  4. You must finish it and have it sent to me or on FFN by Christmas. The winner will be announced on New Years' Day.

The prize is that I will write one romance fic for you in any one of these fandoms:

  * Card Captor Sakura (no da)
  * Gundam Wing
  * Gundam: The 08th MS Team
  * Digimon

And the rules for the prize are:

  * Non-yaoi/yuri couplings only
  * Try to make it non-incest (as in, no Trowa/Cathy or Taichi/Hikari)
  * Try not to have Eriol as a main chara--but I'll do it. The reason for this is becuase I haven't seen enough of him to do an E&T yet. Similarly, only Digimon Tamers/03 if it is entirely necessary.

Thanks! Ja!

~Kawa

PS: See box? Box good. Why is box good? Because YOU put stuff into it and click on "Add Review", that's why! You can put in something bad or something good. Just don't keep it blank and put something in it altogether, OK? Good. And also review if you're planning to go into the contest, just so that I know. Thanks!

PSS: Please go to my website, [Kawaii's Dreamland][1], and read the rant _Deepest Condolences_. I hope it helps.

   [1]: http://www.geocities.com/kawaiimae



End file.
